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Signs of oil deposits in the country had
been found in the mid-1930s but for various reasons, including W.W.2, they
hadn’t been exploited. Exploration licences were granted in 1955 and the
drilling started, mainly inland from the Gulf of Sirte.
Test bores were sunk in very remote areas and trucks like this one were
brought in to transport the rigs and all the equipment needed. To drill a
bore you needed lots of water to mix the mud required to cool the drill
bits. Bores were sunk to find the water but of course to do that you needed
the water in the first place and so it was trucked in. To meet one of these
beasts coming at you, at full speed, on a narrow track certainly made you
sit up and take notice. Taking to the edge of the track could be a worrying
option as there would often be notice boards proclaiming Achtung. Minen or
Warning. Mine Field. They weren’t there for decoration,
mines were still live, and today the oil industry spends vast amounts of
money on the safety of its workers, clearing such dangers.
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Link added 15th August 2018.
A ‘British Pathe’
news clip titled ‘Oil search in Libya 1957’
(off site web page) gives a silent account of landmine clearance in
preparation for the prospectors. It also shows relics from WW2 which could
still be seen littered around the desert some 12 years after the cessation
of hostilities. A Hurricane fighter tail
plane and wreckage of a German vehicle are seen. The method of destroying the mines shows
a simple method of setting off the detonator using the vehicle battery.
Copyright © British Pathe. www.britishpathe.com
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If you just happened to be passing one of
these locations there was always a welcome and liquid refreshment or food
if required. The menus cooked up in the air-conditioned cabins were planned
by Parisian chefs, so of course a bite to eat was always welcome. Oil in
substantial quantities was found in 1959 and further explorations located
many more oil fields right across the country. A large field was located in
the west in the region of the afore mentioned Ghadames, and that stretched
underground into Algeria.
Today, Libya
is possibly the world’s biggest area of untapped oil resources
One of the big discoveries during the
exploration period was the existence of massive aquifers of limitless
supplies of crystal clear fresh water. Water was a problem in Tripoli and similar
towns, the quality was dire. Leave a glass overnight and in the morning
there would be a deep sediment in the bottom with the possibility of things
wriggling about in it, and this was despite heavy chlorination. We received
tins of powder to further purify the water but, in my unit’s case, we had
to use it to scrub our webbing to bleached white on the whim of some local bullsh***ing idiot of an
officer and gentleman. This fresh water supply needed to be available in
the cities and so a mammoth undertaking was started to pipe the water from
the deep south of the desert out to the inhabited areas. Known as the Man
Made River Project it became operational in the nineties and has not only
improved water for the inhabitants but also allowed the expansion of the
agricultural industry, increasing the areas of cultivation for crops. It is
still being extended.
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